An enquiry into the character of the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1866-1869

sSOCIATlON FOK PBOMOTING THE EXTENSION OF THE CONTAGIOUS
DISEASES ACT, 1666, TO THE CIVIL POPULATION OF THE
UNITED KINGDOM.

AN ENQUIRY

INTO THE CHARACTER OF

Djic Contagious IHscascs ^ds

OF

I860 — 18G‘J.

BY

ELIZABETH GARRETT, L.S.A.

P.cprinted from the “ Pall Mall Gazette,” of January 25, 1870

LONDON.

HARRISON AND SONS,

PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY,
ST. martin’s LANE.

AN ENQUIRY

INTO THE CHARACTER Or THE

CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACTS OF 1866-1869.

The proposal to extend gradually to the civil population
the principle embodied in the Contagious Diseases Act of
1866 has been, during the last few weeks; * so prominently
brought before the general public that it can no longer
be regarded as a matter for professional discussion only.
English men and women, who have any influence what-
ever on legislation, are urged to use that influence to
prevent the passing of a measure tending, as it is said, to
encourage vice by making it safe and easy to one class
while subjecting another to a cruel and ‘demoralizing
espionage. Those who feel that the relief of the physical
suffering that follows the transgression of the moral law
cannot be weighed in the scale against the more deadly
evil of the transgression itself, must regard such a
measure with anxiety. They will desire, before taking
part either for or against it, to consider the question
with a knowledge of the facts. But the facts bearing on
the question do not lie within the range of ordinar\° ex-
perience. Much of the evidence is supplied by the
medical profession, and can only be fully appreciated by
those who have had medical experience. Much also of
the less strictly professional evidence is buried in Blue
books, or mixed up with repulsive details which it is not
essential to go into in order to form a fair judgment.

* January, 1870.

4

To those, therefore, who desire to form such a judgment,
a brief statement of the provisions of the Act and an
inquiry into the value of the objections brought against
it may not be useless.

The Acts of I860 — 1869, though very limited in scope,
may be briefly described as an attempt to diminish the
injury to public health which arises from prostitution.
It has long been known that one of the most serious
plagues of modern times, the most important of pre-
ventive diseases, is communicated mainly by fallen
women. The terrible importance of this class of disease
has been most clearly seen in the army, and to all con-
versant with the facts it had long been evident that some
measure of preventive legislation was urgently needed.

In 1864 the first attempt was made by passing an Act
empowering certain garrison towns to provide hospitals -
for the cure of prostitutes when the subjects of con-
tagious disease. It was, however, found that the per-
missive character of the measure rendered it nugatory
The majority of the women would not enter tin
hospital early enough, or stay long enough, and there
fore no appreciable beuefit resulted to the community
In 1866 a much more stringent Act was passed. It v. as
applied only to a small number of garrison towns:
The experience of nearly three years showed that some
of the details of the Act might with advantage bto
altered before it was extended to other towns, anc
accordingly in 1869 an Amended Act was passed. O
the Act, as it now stands, the following are the more
important provisions. A superintendent of police is
appointed, whose duty it is to warn public women that!
the law requires them to undergo periodical medic-a
inspection, and to obtain a magistrate’s warrant to com
pel them to do so if they do not submit voluntarily
Those who are found to be the subjects of contagious-
disease are sent to a certified hospital, where they may
be detained three months if necessary. Should they

then be not cured, and a certificate to that effect
being made out, they may be again sent to the hospital
for two successive periods of three months. Even when
free from contagious disease they remain subject to
periodical inspection as long as they continue to prac-

tise their trade.

The objections lately raised against the Act are
these : — that legislation is unnecessary, the disease
being much less prevalent and less serious than the
advocates of the measure declare it to be ; that it would
be useless, ns the disease has not been and would not be
checked by any such interference ; that such legislation
is opposed to the principle of freedom, and to the sen-
timent of Christian pity for the fallen ; and, finally, that
it is immoral. It will be well to look at each of these
objections separately.

Is legislation necessary ? This is strictly a pro-
fessional question, upon which the opinion of trust-
worthy medical witnesses ought to be accepted as final.
It is enough if unprofessional persons know what that
opinion is, together with some of the principal facts
iipon which it is based. "Without assuming a degree of
unanimity which is not likely ever to be found in a pro-
fession so large and heterogeneous as that of medicine,
it may fairly be asserted that the verdict of an immense
majority of the profession has declared legislation to be
necessary. The weight of this opinion is increased
when it is seen that on this side appear the names of
almost every physician and surgeon of the first rank in
the profession. Mr. Paget, in his evidence before the
Committee of the House of Lords, says that he thinks
“ it would be very difficult to overstate the amount of
“ damage these diseases bring to the population, as
“ regards not individuals, of whom a considerable num-
“ ber in the lower classes are damaged in health for life,
“ but still more as regards the number of children born
“ subject to diseases which render them quite unfit for

(i

“the work of life.” The same witness had seqn five
surgeons die, and fifty suffer more or less severely, from
the infection received from patients. Nurses are also
frequently infected by children who are the subjects of
hereditary disease. Sir William Jenner says, before the
same Committee, “ I cannot express too strongly my
“ conviction of the gravity of syphilis at the present
“ time. I have arrived at the conclusion that it is one
“ of the most fatal diseases we have in this country — at
“ least it stands very high among them and every day’s
“ advance in our medical knowledge raises its position in
“ that respect. I think it is a disease entirely pre-
“ ventible. I think that children and other persons
“ suffer largely from it without any sin of their own,

“ and therefore I think it ought to be prevented.”
Mr. Prescott Hewett is asked by the Committee if he
finds the effects he has described to any great extent among
children. He answers, “ To a great extent.” “ Can
“ you say whether it is an evil existing to such a degree
“ as to require, if possible, legislative remedy ?” “ Cer-
“ tainly, if possible. I do not know any disease that is
“ more terrible to my mind than this.”

Considering the question from another point of view,
hospital statistics are seen to furnish strong confirmatory
testimony as to the extent of the evil. Among the sur-
gical out-patients at Bartholomew’s, one-half suffer from
this cause. At Guy’s the proportion is 43 per cent.
At other hospitals the proportion varies from a third to
a fifth of the number admitted. At the Moorfields Eye
Hospital it is a fifth. At the Hospital for the Throat it
is nearly a fifth. Of the patients thus affected, a very
large proportion are innocent women and children. At"
St. Mary’s Dispensary I have found that two-thirds of
the whole number of patients treated for this class of
disease are suffering from no fault of their own ; and
though it is obvious that this proportion is higher than
it would be in a dispensary which received men as well

7

as women, I believe it would not be an exaggeration to
say that, among the poor, the number of innocent people
who suffer from the worst and most lasting forms of the
disease is greater than the number of the guilt}r.

The objection that legislation would not succeed in
checking the. evil is one of more practical importance.
It must be admitted, moreover, that it cannot be com-
pletely removed by an appeal to the effects of the work-
ing of the Act of 18G6. Statistics showing the amount
of disease before and after the Act came into effect are
not so conclusive as the friends of the Act could desire.
A decided diminution is observed in all but one case —
where the failure of the Act was due to special causes —
but the diminution is less than that which a hasty
observer might have expected. The explanation of this
fact is found in the conditions under which the experi-
ment has been made, conditions which rendered it
impossible fairly to apply the statistical test. The fact
that the protected districts, those in which the Act was
enforced, were easily accessible to the inhabitants of
neighbouring towns, and were constantly receiving regi-
ments from unprotected stations, is sufficient to indicate
the mode in which the statistical result would be affected
without any real failure of the Act itself. Success has
everywhere been in proportion to the size of the area
over which the Act could be brought into operation, and
to the consequent isolation of the protected district.
At Malta, Sir Henry Storks, being able to command
these conditions, succeeded in completely stamping out
the disease. The same success was obtained at Sheer-
ness, from the accidental isolation of the station. In'
places less fortunately situated, statistics of the results
of the Act are probably almost worthless as a test of the
value of preventive legislation. More serviceable
evidence is gained from the testimony of officers in
charge of the stations before and after the Act came
into effect. They assert emphatically that the Act lias

R

produced great good in every one of tlie protected
places, and that, but for tho constant influx of disease
from the other stations, the stitistical results would have
been all that could have been anticipated. This is cor-
roborated by the result of legislation on the Continent ;
all competent authorities agreeing that it would be a
grpat mistake to imagine that the evil is by any means
so rife there as it is in this country. The truth of this
opinion is confirmed by comparing the proportion of the
household troops in hospital annually from this cause in
London, Paris, and Brussels. According to Mr. Acton,,
the proportion is 1 in 4 in Loiidon, 1 in 33 at Paris, 1 in
56 at Brussels. This surgeon whose great Continental ex-
perience renders him the first English authority on such
a point, considers that among the civil population the di-
sease is at its maximum in London, its minimum at Paris.
He “cannot understand how there could be a more com--
“ ph'te success than has been attained at Paris.” The
English Act differs from the Paris system in many
important points, notably in being only prohibitory in.
character, and giving no sort of sanction to the women
with whom it deals; but there seems to be no reason
why, if applied to the whole country, it should be less-
successful. Further experience will doubtless suggest:
improvements in the Act ; it may even be hoped that:
when prejudice subsides, and when its restrictive cha-
racter is generally known, it may be found possible to go
a step further, and make street solicitation a criminal
offence.

Are the provisions of the Act inconsistent with the
principle of freedom ? Are they also unjust in dealing:
more severely with women than with men ?

In reference to the first point, the restriction put on
personal liberty, it is generally recognised that the State
is bound to protect the public, even if in doing so it in-
terferes with the liberty of individuals. But it may be
said that though the intervention of the State is justifia-

f)

bio when the individual is powerless to protect himself,
as e.g., in the case of measures for checking the spread
of pestilence, the present case is one in which such a
principle does not apply, the individual indulging himself
at his own risk, and being safe from infection unless he
puts himself in the way of it. But it is essential to
remember that this is only true in a very limited sense.
To say nothing of the children to whom such a fearful
heritage descends, wives are in the present state of the
law powerless to defend themselves, and are therefore in
a position to require legislative protection.

Stress has also been laid on the apparent injustice of
imposing restrictions on women that are not imposed on
men. There would be force in this objection if there
were any parallel class among men, but in the absence of
any such class it cannot be said that men and women aro
treated unequally. Not only are respectable women alto-
gether outside the scope ot the Act, but women who are
leading immoral lives are equally with men exempt from
its operation as long as their immorality is not publicly
practised as a trade.

Another and most serious charge brought against the
Act is that it might endanger the liberty of all women
and place them all in the power of the police. It has
been said, indeed, that ‘'practised police spies will cajole

and terrify innocent women into declaring themselves

to be common prostitutes.” It is difficult to believe
that any one can seriously credit women with such a
degree of helplessness. Is there any appreciable risk
that any woman not bereft of reason would be capable
ot such folly ? Surely it is incredible.

■With reference to the power given to the police, it
should bo remembered that the Act is not enforced bv
common constables, but by superintendents of police
men oi tried character, of long standing in the force,
almost invariably of middle age, and married; and that
they have no power over any but notorious sinners. In

10

the immense majority of cases (090 out of 700, as esti-
mated by one witness) the police have only to warn the
woman of the existence of the law, and she at once sub-
mits ; here the police make no charge at all — the woman
is aware that her employment is perfectly well known,
and- she does not think of denying it ; in the rare cases -
where this is insufficient the superintendent gets a
magistrate’s warrant against her by swearing that he
knows her to be a common prostitute. It is no doubt
somewhat startling to an ordinary member of English
society to think of the police knowing enough about
individual women to be able to bring with certainty such
a charge against them. But it is obviously much more
easy for the police to recognize those to whom vice is
the business of life, and who for carrying on that busi-
ness frequent constantly the same localities, than it
Avould be for them to know ordinary citizens. It has
also been shown by Mr. Berkeley Hill, that women of
this class are compelled by the pressure of society to live
very much together, and this materially aids the police
in knowing them. Though only one doubtful instance of:
mistakes having occurred is contained in the evidence,
the possibility of their arising has been carefully pro-
vided for. No woman can be summoned at all until a:
magistrate is satisfied, by an information on oath of a
superintendent of police, that the woman is a notorious-
prostitute, and, if summoned, she can escape subjection:
to the Act, either by leaving the district or by giving:
her own recognisances to the magistrate of her good:
behaviour during three months.

An argument which it is even more important to con-
sider is that the Act is opposed to the instinct of pity
which every one, and especially every woman, ought to
feel for the fallen. It is argued with great truth that
those who from youth have been shielded from all temp-
tation, who have been surrounded by associations of
purity which, even hpart from principle, are sufficient in

11

all biit exceptional cases to make immorality impossible,
ought not to dare to judge the amount of guilt implied
in even the grossest immorality practised by women
brought up amid temptations so infinitely greater, it
is also urged, and again with truth, that in the majority
of even the lowest class many traces of a better mature
continually show themselves, and we are asked Won c
you chain these poor women to their yileness t \J on cl
you say that for them there is no hope of return ? Would
‘you condemn them to perpetual slavery for the benefit
| of nien ? To those conversant with the px ovisions ot
the Act, it cannot but be surprising that these questions
should even be asked, so distinctly merciful and Christian
is its whole tenor in relation to the class with which it
has to deal. Every member of the medical profession
knows only too well how terrible are the sufferings ot
this class, and how difficult it is for them to get out ot
their life of vice, or even to discontinue it for a time
when in a state of urgent bodily suffering. Till they are
too ill to move about they must continue to iollpw then-
trade, or starve. Hospitals do not as a rule admit them,
dispensaries cannot cure them ; even soup-kitchens for
the sick will not help to feed them ; missions and refuges
reach but few of them ; they are without health, without
character, without habits of industry and self-control,
without friends, without money. Could the position be
more forlorn ? To a woman thus circumstanced the Act
, provides a hospital to which admission is given without
i delay, as soon as she needs it ; in the hospital she is
separated as far as possible from those yet lower than
herself; she is treated with kindness; she is put into
communication with those who make it their constant
effort to help her back into a decent life ; if she permits
it her friends are asked to receive her again when she is
well enough to leaye the hospital, or she is ottered a
,■ home in a reformatory or refuge. When cured, her ex-
penses home are paid by Government, and home is taken

12

to mean — if she wishes it — where her parents are. In
this case a suitable escort is provided for her at the ex-
pense of the Government. Even when still at large,
though liable to periodical inspection, if she forsakes her
evil pursuit the surgeon is empowered to release her
from liability to examination without referring her to
the magistrate. That this description of the manner in
which the Act is carried out is not overdrawn will be j
plain to any one wbo will go through the evidence con- i
tained in the Parliamentary papers.* It would be indeed i
no exaggeration to say that the Act is scarcely less bene- j
ficent in its moral bearing on the women it concerns, ,
than it is in its physical bearing on the health of the <
community. From the hospital at Chatham, twenty- -
three per cent, of the patients admitted have permanently j
returned to decent life. From the Devonport hospital, (
in the first four mouths of 1869, seventy were sent to r
asylums out of a total of 700; since the Act was first ,
enforced at this station, 550 women have left the streets, o
and are known by the police, to be living respectably, j
This evidence is confirmed by the testimony of many
witnesses from all the other stations. The reclamation «
of individuals has, moreover*, not been balanced by the
entrance of an equivalent number of fresh women. The S!
total number has everywhere greatly diminished. At jc
Devonport, for instance, where in 1864 there were 2,000 jj
women of this class, there are now but 770. f The
amount of other crime, such as stealing, committed by K
these women, has also, by the evidence of many wit-- •
nesses, been everywhere remarkably reduced. The clergy
of the various towns to which the Act has been appliec.
bear witness strongly in its favour.

* See especially Rev. J. G. Bailey’s evidence, pp. 94 — 97, Lords> (
Report; Mr. Sloggett’s evidence, pp. 5 — 7, Commons’ Report .
Mr. Parson’s evidence, p. 14, Commons’ Report.

f These numbers are quoted on the authority of the Policv ■
Register.

1 •'l

lo

It is further tu be remarked as bearing upon the moral
influence of the Act that, beneficent as it is in regard to
the fallen class, it has the advantage of not wearing that
aspect. It is probable that it has a distinctly and power-
fully deterrent influence upon girls who might, but for its
salutary check, allow themselves to sink into a life of sin.
It acts in this way by imposing an immediate and certain
penalty, a penalty which the most ignorant understands,
and which is felt more severely at the time when the
girl still retains sensibility and a certain amount of
modesty. The dread of disease and of ultimate degra-
dation is not likely to be strongly felt by au ignorant
girl of sixteen or seventeen, to whom the danger seems
but a distant one. But if she knows that prostitution
places her immediately under the special observation and
control of the police, and subjects her, as long as she
practises it, to periodical inspection, and to the certainty
of losing her liberty for a time if she becomes the subject
of contagious disease, she feels there are very heavy
drawbacks to the immediate attractions of vice.

Finally, it is urged that legislation, even if it could
stop or diminish the physical evils resulting from vice
and exert a reforming influence on some of the women
now degraded by it, would do so at the expense of inflict-
ing serious moral evil on men ; that it would in effect
aim at making vice safe, and that thus a double restraint
would be removed, the restraint of fear and the moral
restraint which is imposed by the general tone of society
and by the discountenancing attitude of the State. It
is rightly felt that if physical gain is to. be had at the
expense of moral loss the gain will be too dearly bought.
But is there, in this question, any such alternative ? Of
the two restraints mentioned, consider first the restraint
of fear. How much is that worth ? how much of its
influence, supposing it to be worth anything, would be
lost by the action of the measure ? A youth knows, as
he enters manhood, that certain bodily evils may result

It

to him from leading a vicious life. But lie sees tliai
these are not by any means the inevitable result; the
experience of his companions shows him it is not so, hi
gets to think the danger has been exaggerated, and b»
a natural reaction he thinks the risk less than it really is
and ignores it altogether. He is moral or immoral frorr
influences other than that of fear, unless caution is witl
him a far more marked characteristic than it usually if
with English lado.

The second objection on the score of morality is, tha-
the State will appear, by regulating prostitution, to sane
tion it, and that thus a moral restraint will be removec
from the whole community, and more especially from it;
least educated portion.

In some cases, it is doubtless true that recognitioi
implies- less of active hostility than might be implied b'
an obstinate policy of non-reeognition. But recognitioi
which takes only the form of prohibition can scarceb
be said to sanction, and the Act in question is, witl
regard to prostitution, entirely and simply prohibitory ii
spirit. The State has no right to enforce private morality v
or to puuish private immorality, except where this ini
morality directly injures the community. In the' cast-
before us it cannot make a crime of prostitution consi.
dered apart from its effects, as it is the affair of indi
viduals, not of the community; but it is bound to re
cognise the effects of private vice when these fall on the
innocent members of the community as well as on th< :
guilty. It is also bound to recoguise the ettects whei
they incapacitate servants of the State for the dutie.i
they have bound themselves to perform. Nothing, inth
Act itself, or in the way in which it has beeii enforced''
justifies the accusation that it is intended for the securit- «
of vicious men. Ho certificate of health on her discharged
from hospital is given to the woman ; the Act has for it
sole object to prevent her from carrying on her trade whet
in a condition to seriously injure the community in doin: i

\

k

tiS;

It

15

so. Because the State has no power to make prostitu-
tion criminal, it does not fellow that it ought to refrain
from checking it as far as possible, when, by injuring
either the health of the servants of the State or of inno-
cent members of the community, it for the first time
places itself within reach of the controlling power of the
law. Moreover, as has been already shown, the Act does
more than diminish the consequences of prostitution ;
by reclaiming some women and discouraging others, it
distinctly checks the evil itself. It may also be fairly
doubted if it would ever had occurred to the working
classes to think that putting gross immorality under a
certain amount of police control and restriction was
giving it in any sense the sanction of the State. The
word “policeman” does not suggest an idea of sanction
so much as that of repression, and probably the popular
imagination at first over-estimates the power actually
in the hands of the police, and that therefore the new
law not only is a check, but looks like one.

The assertion that periodical medical inspection still
further demoralizes women who have adopted vice as a
trade, is one which in the absence of confirmatory
evidence it is very difficult to believe. It is no doubt
probable that women of this class realize the shame of
their position more in the presence of a medical officer
than they do with their ordinary companions ; but can
it be urged that this momentary awakening of shame
is an evil ? Would it not be well if the shame became
so great as to render continuance in the life intolerable ?
It should also be remembered that inspection on ad"-
imssmn is compulsory in the case of all who apply to bo
received into reformatories, and that here it has never
been thought demoralizing.

It is perhaps desirable to mention the alternative
scheme proposed by those who oppose the present Act

rjlts more important features are— the establishment of
ospitals to which women of this class shall be encouraged

10

but not compelled, to come, when suffering from conta
gious disease ; reformatories to receive them as they leavt <
the hospitals ; and a more earnest endeavour on the par
of good men and women to get into friendly relationship
with the class in order to reclaim all those of its member
who are not utterly hardened and degraded. Earl;
marriages are also advocated. Without wishing to dis
courage the efforts of private individuals, it is well te
remember that these agencies have already been tried
and that their success hitherto has been far short o
that which would justify making them the basis o
legislative action. By the Act of 1864, the voluntar;
hospital scheme was tried, without compulsory insjyectioi 1
or compulsory detention ; it failed completely from tb ;
determination of most of the women to return to thei:
ordinary lives long before their health was restored!
Early marriages are all but universal among th «
London poor, and nothing is more certain than that in
this class they do not prevent immorfllity. As to tbn
effect of a crusade against vice undertaken by men anoi
women filled with an ardent pity for the women degrade^
by it, those who see most of the ignorant classes ar
perhaps the least able to be sanguine as to the probability
of any great or permanent good from such efforts
Degradation cannot be taken by storm, and the animaa
side of human nature will outlive crusades. There i
no reason, however, why the Government scheme shouL
not be greatly aided by private benevolence. Ever;
hospital which' receives this unhappy class ought to b
associated with a refuge, and here, at least, there wo uL
be room for all the aid which, in the slow and difficul
work of restoration, wise and sympathetic women woul .
find it in their power to contribute.

Uakbison and So>s, Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty, St. Martin’s Lane.